Poland Questions Key Premise of Moscow’s Crash Probe

WARSAW — Poland’s air-force chief couldn’t be heard in cockpit recordings in the minutes leading to the crash of the Polish aircraft that killed the country’s president and 95 others in 2010, a study by Polish investigators showed Monday. The finding contradicted a Moscow-based committee’s report, which talked of a drunk general forcing the crew to land in poor visibility.

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Russian rescuers inspect the wreckage of a Polish government Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft which crashed on April 10, 2010 near Smolensk airport.

The Moscow-based Interstate Aviation Committee said last year that Russian-made Tupolev TU-154M aircraft operated by the Polish government crashed on approach in Smolensk, western Russia, in April 2010 after Poland’s air force commander, Gen. Andrzej Blasik, pressured the crew to land in thick fog. President Lech Kaczynski and his delegation, including the general and other top commanders of the military, were killed in the crash as they were headed to a memorial event.

But Gen. Blasik’s voice couldn’t be identified in a Polish study of the cockpit recordings and no evidence exists that he was in the cockpit at the time of the crash, said Col. Ireneusz Szelag, the military district prosecutor in Warsaw. Remarks the Moscow-based committee ascribed to the general had in fact been made by the flight’s navigator, the Polish investigators said.

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The Moscow-based committee has so far insisted the general had a blood-alcohol level of 0.06%, enough to impair reasoning, and that he could be heard in a cockpit recording immediately before the crash, which it said constituted evidence he had pressured the crew to attempt landing.

Poland said last July Gen. Blasik was “a passive observer” of the events in the cockpit during the flight’s final minutes. A Polish commission of investigators, led by the interior minister and independent from the prosecutorial investigation, last year also questioned the Russian autopsy on Gen. Blasik’s body, and said the claim he was under the influence of alcohol couldn’t be independently verified. Poland has also said air-traffic controllers on the ground in Smolensk, western Russia, gave misleading information to the crew and may have contributed to the crash.

Nearly two years after the crash, the plane’s wreckage—property of the Polish government—remains in Russia, pending a Russian criminal investigation, which has no deadline, said Andrzej Seremet, Poland’s Prosecutor General. Russia has recently declared it would build a makeshift roof over the remains, he added. During the initial months after the crash, the wreckage lay rain-lashed at the tarmac of the Smolensk airport and was later given a tarp cover.

The latest findings by the Polish side — even though they didn’t change Poland’s overall assessment that it bears the brunt of the blame — widen the rift between the official views of the crash from Moscow and Warsaw. Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the Moscow committee’s version unacceptable, although he said late last year Poland wants friendly relations with Russia despite the disagreements and a history of conflict between the nations.

Nonsense is your surname.
1. George de Bothezat was educated in the Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute in the first. And then he studed courses abroad. Then he lectured at the Petersburg Polytechnical University where did his researches. He was just employed by the US Army. Not educated. He was not the only in Russia who knew something about helicopters. Russia was not deserted by talents. First soviet helicopter was constructed in 1926. Another one known in the US pioneer of helicopters - Sikorsky - wasn't educated outside Russia at all. He created biggest multi-engines planes in Russia. He also fled the Russian Bolshevik Revolution, same people who defeated Poland in the same 1920. Look wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiev_Offensive_(1920) ) That's all about "Russian engineering".
2. Comic, in your per capita migration rate the Usa doesn't rank #1 too. #1 is Zimbabwe!!!!!
3. I dont care how many Indian engineers work for MSFT. I wished to tell that not only prostitutes go to earn money in the USA. What for one more MSFT needed? Especially if you can buy its production in flea market.
Maybe "prosperous" Poland with its "leading economic indicators" has version of MSFT? German? France?
4. It's your ancestors were monkeys when Russian state was established. Have you read my references? People staying as result of conquest only if they win (like Americans). When for example Germans won Russia (taking into account the majority of them live in Volga region)? Or Scots? At that time Europe was a territiry of continuous religious, territorial and other wars unlike Russia. Russia was relatively peaceful backwater for Europeans. And there never was race discrimination unlike for example your freedom-loving America

9:38 am January 25, 2012

Anonymous wrote:

Lets go through the nonsense one by one:

1. George_de_Bothezat was educated in Belgium and Germany, and he worked for the US Army. He fled the Russian Bolshevik Revolution. Same people Poland defeated in 1920, as someone mentioned earlier. So what if he was born in Russia? He ran and never looked back.

2. "“Now Russia takes the second place right after the USA by quantity of migrants” Nonsense. Russia ranks #67 in the world with migration rate of .29 (cia world factbook). Your claim is invented and comical.

3. Brin? Really? So what? Microsoft hires the best and brightest from all over the world. Do you know how many Indian software engineers work for MSFT? The question is: where is Russia's version of MSFT? All Russians seem to do in this regard is break international intellectual property rights. Go to any flea market in Moscow and stacks of pirated software will speak to that.

4. " Georgians, Armenians and Assyrians – from oppressions of Persians" Haha okay I hate to tell you but back then Russian state did not exist. You might as well reference migration patterns in the Stone Age. Russia was defeated and occupied by the Poles, Sweedes, Germans, Tartars and others throughout their history. People staying as result of conquest does not make the place a "magnet" for immigrants.

There you go Gary Ru. Myths debunked one by one. You sir proved you have no idea hat you're talking about.

8:36 am January 25, 2012

Gary Ru wrote:

Zworykin, the inventor of the first TVset, was Russian. At least its education was Russian. He began the works in Russia. As well as George_de_Bothezat, the creator of the first helicopter. The only thing where the American educational system has succeeded is how to make money.

"Sadly, Russian prostitutes roaming the streets in the US and Israel are evidence of this."
Yeah. Russian prostitutes like Sergey Brin and a drove of programmers in Microsoft are the evidence of this

8:14 am January 25, 2012

Gary Ru wrote:

"When was this exactly? Ivan the Terrible? Peter? Stalin? Putin?"

Much erlier. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Germans_in_Russia_and_the_Soviet_Union
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Quarter
Famous Russian poet Fet was descendant some of them en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afanasy_Fet
Pushkin wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Pushkin was a descendant of an African (Major-general, governor and engineer. How many similar Africans in the USA (XVIII cent.) you can call?).
Lermontov was descendant from the Scottish Learmonths. And so on.
Much more Frenchmen has decided to remain to live in Russia than to return to France after war 1812 with Napoleon. I even don't mention surnames of Russia's neighbours and Jews.Scots took shelter in Russia from oppressions of Englishmen, Greeks - from Turks. Georgians, Armenians and Assyrians - from oppressions of Persians. So it's your (American?) education system has a great problem. Not mine.

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